Personal Statement : My Group Experience

Our group worked on all the components of the project together, which included the research, reference pages, scripts, and the PowerPoint. I believe our decision to not assign specific tasks to a single individual allowed us to fully understand all the information and get along better due to the fact we all were doing the same amount of work. In a group setting, we had to work together and communicate with one another in order to create a suitable presentation. One thing I saw that our group thrived at was listening to one another. Our book defines listening as the “active, complex process that consists of being mindful, physically receiving messages, selecting and organizing messages, interpreting messages, responding, and remembering (Wood, 2016).” Each group member had to

First of all, to be put in a group of individuals that I had never met or interacted with before was always going to be difficult. The process of getting to know them better and finding the strengths and weaknesses of each team member was hard at first but the more we worked on the presentation, the better we became at communicating and getting the

For this class project, I think my group worked well together on the assignments. We all saw we had responsibilities and were expected to do our own parts for each assignment we worked on. For each assignment, we would split it equally among us and used a tool called Google Docs so we were each on our own computers but working together on one file. Google Docs really made the process easier with reviewing all the information and having it all in one file. If any questions came up we had a group text to communicate when we weren’t on campus grounds for class.

We made sure to stay onto of our work and were able to go back and help other group member who worked after us with their parts as well. Because we worked through Google Drive, we were able to all work on the project equally at the same time. We all logged in, created our slides, added our information and picture, and left comments for one another on there. Bhavik introduced me to a new meaning to the quote, ”I don’t want to see you—die—trying not to suffer,” which I was able to later use in my presentation (Baldwin 264). I set up a group text message so we were able to ask each other questions and stay connected at anytime. Our group also met up in the library the morning before presenting so we could discus how we would present to the class. Working in the group setting was very important because we were able to hear each other’s different interpretations of scenes we did not understand or scenes we analyzed

At the beginning, I took it upon myself to configure the essay, turn in the project on time, and share a Google Doc file with each partner. By creating the presentation on Google, this allowed every group member access the presentation and work on their slides whenever they needed to do so. Choosing the categories came easy, respectfully we gave each other the chance to voice our opinions on why we should have that specific topic. Lance was a huge help getting everything rolling, he offered to drive to Happy Trails to interview Josh Devault and not mention set up the meeting. Ryan kept me updated with his work and asked many questions that added to my confidence that he will get the job done correctly. Eddie hammered down on his section as well as kept everyone up-to-date with his progress through the journal feature on Blackboard. Char Dai’ got her section done before everyone else did and that was astonishing. She influenced the whole group to get their work done quick and efficiently. Every member worked hard and finished on time, I’m quite happy with our group’s

I made all of my slides and reported on all of them. In addition to that, I did the conclusion of our report. Mark did the overview. Mark and I both volunteered for the extra roles. I don’t want to give the impression that no one else was willing; we simply volunteered first. Our group was very good overall. We started early, mostly individually. I think most people, myself included, made the slides on their own computers then transferred the information over to the google doc the day before the presentation. It worked out very nicely. There were minor issues with disagreements on formatting, where the person who had issues with our bright pink background did not check with the group before changing the entire layout the night before the presentation. But we changed it back, and it was no big deal. We tried our best to organize the flow of information from broad to narrow, but it was difficult because we all had such widely different topics. In the end, however, I felt the presentation flowed well. This group of people was really fun to work

Working in a group was a great way to get to know my classmates. Despite our differences, we worked together and completed the assignment. I like working in a group, but sometimes I would rather do the assignment on my own. Group work has its good and bad effects.

When the project was first introduced and we were out in a group together, we immediately discussed topics that we could present on. At the time, we did not choose a topic, but the following day we were able to find a topic that we all enjoyed researching and presenting on. Once we had a topic to present on, we split up the work evenly between us and started a google docs so we could post our notes and completed work online. This process was very dependent on every member of the group contributing to the end goal of presenting our finished project. For the most part we completed our respective tasks and was able to complete our presentation on why health care should be free. Our group did not communicate very much, this highlighted the interdependence

At the first meeting, the group underwent the forming stage, becoming reacquainted with one another (as many of us have worked together in previous classes) and we familiarized ourselves with the project that the group would be undertaking this quarter (Connery & Vohs, 2006). The group established group norms initially, discussing the roles of coordinator, time keeper and recorder and agreeing that those roles would be rotated every week at the beginning of the group meeting (Connery & Vohs, 2006). We agreed that everyone will be respectful of others and everyone will have an opportunity to voice their

With the heterogeneous groups the level of discussion and cooperative work is increased, providing benefits for every student partaking. According to Paul Burden and David Byrd (2012), “Having students work in groups generally has a positive effect on their achievement when compared to their work as individuals.” Small-group work and discussions allows for students to improve their communication skill, cooperation skills, and gain new insight and understanding from their peers in a way that could not be achieved working alone.

The last discouraging group experience I had was for the final group project in my audio technology class in my senior year of high school. We had to write, produce, and record two songs for an artist that we created. At the end of senior year, most high school students are not motivated to do anything. The members of my group did not really care about completing the project or the quality of the work we were doing. There were not really any group norms. We were expected to work on our tasks for whatever positions were assigned during the class period. There was a lot more deviance than conformity in the group. The members would sometimes not work on the group project during class time but on their own projects and homework for other classes.

The way we first formed was by us being the closest together we just decided to be in a group together. We weren’t sure how it would be, but we eventually just introduced ourselves and shared information about ourselves. We then began to start discussing about the first project we did. We divided portions of the content and started placing information into the PowerPoint that we felt was useful to present. After, presenting the PowerPoint we noticed how each other works and were okay with it. We then presented our topic and was fine. When we then began to discuss topics about our final presentations we didn’t have any problems. Throughout the process of our big project we didn’t have any issues, but when we presented it was good, but could have been better.

Working in a group can be very difficult at times. Different people with different views may not always agree which one another. Throughout the various task I played the communicator. I made sure everyone was on track on what we wanted to do. I also made sure people was okay and happy in the role they was playing in the group. My group worked together in collecting ideas from one another and making it into one.

Being involved in a group project was a challenge for me, due to the fact that we had some communication problems between our group members in the beginning. First of all, we started with a brainstorming, analysing the opportunities of companies around Hendon Central. More than this, we agreed on the same firm and started our work. Within a teamwork, there are some challenges that occur such as remaining focused on a direction, splitting equally the work and choosing a good leader. Bearing all this in mind, I might say that we did our best during the presentation and we coped with the minor communication issues. From this experience, I realized that I am a good leader and I can manage efficiently a project.

I used to believe that I did not perform very well in groups. I am an observer who likes to learn alone. I thought I learned best when I worked on my own. Even though I always knew group work had many positive values, I was more comfortable with the lecture-based approach and resisted group work merely because it involved change, not because it had a collaborative learning approach. However, during the learning community project, I came to realize that I learn more effectively when I work in groups. Working in a group was like an adventure for me; there were both exciting and challenging times while preparing for the learning community project.